In Allure Magazine’s August 2015 issue an article titled, “You (Yes, You) Can Have An Afro.*” The asterisk reads: “even if you have straight hair” has the publication in the middle of a cultural appropriation debate.

Some feel that this calls for an apologize but instead Allure publicly defends its spread.

We wanted this to be a celebration of self-expression. We hear your feedback & we'll make sure our future stories reflect all perspectives.

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Tamara is the Founding Editor of Natural Hair Rules!!! Natural Hair Rules (NHR) was originally created as her personal hair journal. Since its creation in 2008, it has grown to one of the top natural hair/beauty blogs online today.

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There is a certain level of “freeness” that comes from doing whatever you want with your hair, body, etc.. and not having to worry about the politics behind it. Unfortunately, we have a trend in the black community of playing the “race” police. If we feel threatened within our community due to another black person doing something we don’t define as “black”, we get defensive. On the flip side, we also monitor what white women or any other woman is doing to put them back in “their” place.

I understand the origins for our social policing, because we live in a world dominated by anglo-saxon values. But we can’t really claim to be free until we LET GO of these hang ups and just be. Then black women who stress over getting ultra straight hair to assimilate can stop worrying about it and we can also embrace whatever options we choose from an aesthetic preference. Therefore, on this particular issue, I’m calling neutral, because it should not matter if a white woman wants to texturize her hair in order to replicate a style that we wear. No I’m not worried about cultural appropriation because of globalization, everyone is guilty of it.